Chin and Danny
by Wenwalke
Summary: After what happened during the Aloha Girls camping trip, Danny decides he needs to learn a little more about how to survive in the forest, or jungle as he likes to call it. This story is set after season 3, episode 10, Huaka'I Kula. For cargumentluv, in answer to her challenge for Chin and Danny story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the show or the characters.

 **Chapter One**

It was a few days since the disaster that was the Aloha Girls camping trip. Danny was so thankful that everyone had made it out of the forest relatively unharmed. His arm was healing, and Steve, for once, only came away with a bruised face. But it could have gone so much worse if Madeline hadn't stepped up and helped track Ron.

Danny hated to admit it, but he'd really needed the help. No way he could have found Steve and Lucy on his own, he just didn't have the skills.

Steve had already joked around about Danny needing the help of the Aloha Girls leader, which was why Chin now sat in the chair across the desk.

"So, you want to go out this weekend, brah? You're sure Steve will be okay with this? You know how he gets." They'd had this discussion when Danny first came to him, but obviously, Chin wanted to clarify that Danny hadn't changed his mind.

"Yeah, Chin. I think my arm is healed enough now that it won't be a problem." Danny ran a hand down his face as he looked past Chin to see Steve headed their way. "I'll talk to Steve. I really appreciate you doing this for me."

"Hey, whatever you need, Danny, I'm there for you." Chin got up to leave just as Steve pushed into the office.

"Don't leave on my account, Chin." Steve held the door as Chin moved through it.

"We were done, Steve." Chin turned back to Danny. "See you in the morning, I'll have everything ready."

Steve closed the door and sat in the chair Chin had just vacated. "What's going on, Danny?"

"Chin and I are going up to the Watershed Forest Reserve this weekend. He's taking me along the Aihualama Trail, then we're camping overnight."

A dark look crossed Steve's handsome face. "If you wanted to go camping, why Chin and not me?"

"I think you know the answer to that one, Steven." At Steve's questioning look, Danny continued. "You've been making fun of me the past week for needing Madeline's help. I don't want to deal with that all weekend too."

"So, Chin offered to take you camping?" In Danny's opinion, sulky was not a good look on the ex Navy SEAL.

"No. I asked him to because, and I'm only saying this once. You're right, I do need to know how to find my way around in the jungle."

"It's a rain-forest Danny, not a jungle."

'So, predictable,' Danny thought to himself. "Rain-forest, jungle, who cares as long as Chin teaches me how to find my way." Danny stood and walked around the desk to lean against it in front of his best friend. "Steve, I'm not doing this to upset you, please understand that. But I'm going with Chin this time. Maybe next time you can take Grace and I camping, huh?"

Steve looked like he was going to argue for a second, then he relaxed. "Okay, partner. Just remember that promise, because I'm already planning a camping trip for next month. Oh, and you'll love the view from the ridge, even if it's not an urban jungle you'll be seeing."

Danny placed a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Thanks, partner. If it'll make you feel better, we're taking a Sat. phone. So, I'll call you from the top of the ridge overlooking the Upper Manoa Valley and tell you what I think of the view."

Steve stood, "don't get into any trouble."

"Hey, I'm not the trouble magnet. That's you, babe." They both left the office heading to their favourite bar to meet the rest of the team for a Friday night stress reliever.

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews, I really enjoy reading them. Also, a big thank you to rewob17 for the beta on this story.

 **Chapter Two**

Danny met Chin the next morning, and they drove up to the Aihualama trailhead.

"You ready for this, brah? It's not an easy hike up to the ridge?" Chin unloaded packs from his vehicle as he spoke.

"I'm ready, Chin. Let's go." Danny shouldered the pack Chin handed to him, and both men set off up the trail.

The view from the ridge was as good as Chin and Steve, had promised. Danny was impressed. He took out his cell phone, as predicted, there was no signal, but he took a couple of pictures before putting it away again.

Chin handed Danny the Sat. phone. "Here, brah. You better call your work wife so he doesn't worry and come charging after us."

"You are a very funny man, Chin Ho Kelly." Danny smiled as he dialed his partner's number.

"Hey, Super SEAL, we're at the ridge, and it's as great a view as you said it would be." Danny smiled at some comment Chin couldn't hear. "Will you relax? We are just going a little further up the ridge to camp. Not rocket science, babe." He listened some more. "Yes, we'll be careful. See you tomorrow."

Chin smiled as he placed the phone back in his pack. "That man is very overprotective, brah."

"I know. My getting shot last week, and then him having to leave me, really got to him." Danny turned and followed Chin as he started up a less used trail leading from the edge of the ridge. "He didn't know that Madeline was an ER nurse, and worried about my wound getting infected because he wasn't able to tend to it."

"He really cares about you, Danny. I'm really happy that he's found a friendship with you that's keeping him here in Hawaii. I thought, for sure he'd leave again after we got Victor Hesse."

"Me too, Chin." Danny stopped behind Chin as the man contemplated which fork in the trail to take. "But I think it's Grace we need to thank. I overheard her telling Steve that he had to always make sure I came home to her, and Steve said he would. Right then, I knew he'd stay here. He'd never break a promise to my beautiful daughter."

The two men continued in silence until they reached a clearing. "This is where we'll camp for the night. So, let's get the tent set up, then this afternoon I'll teach you how to find your way. Maybe even throw in some tracking, if you're a good student."

Both men laughed, before going about setting up their camp.

It was late afternoon before Chin said he was satisfied that Danny could find his way out of the forest if he needed to. They'd spent a busy and exhausting afternoon hiking the area around their camp. After the first few tries, Danny had managed to find his way back to the camp each time.

"So, coach, do I get to learn how to track now?" Danny joked.

"Let's have a snack and some water first. Then you can impress me be following one of the trails we made this afternoon."

They relaxed while they ate the trail mix that Chin had brought with them, each drinking a bottle of water.

To Danny, learning how to follow a trail was harder than he'd thought it would be. But by early evening their hard work seemed to be paying off.

"Let's call it a night, have some food then turn in." Chin started pulling food from his pack, ready to make supper. "Tomorrow morning, before we leave, I'll take off. You come find me."

"Ho! Like a test?" Danny found that having Chin teach him how to find his way, and track, was such a relaxing experience, compared to how learning with his partner would have been. He didn't mind Chin testing his new-found skills, in fact, he thought he'd rather enjoy it.

"Not so much a test, as a final lesson before we go home."

"Okay, you're on."

Both men were just settling down to sleep when Chin's Sat. phone rang.

"Don't answer that, babe. It'll be Steve making sure I didn't get lost out here."

"Funny, Danny. But if I don't answer it, he'll be coming out looking for you." Chin laughed.

"Yeah, we'd better answer it then, we don't need a ninja SEAL swooping in here on a commandeered helicopter." Danny also laughed as he held out his hand so he could answer the phone.

"We're fine, Steven. You don't have to call to check up on us." He didn't even give his partner time to say anything, because he just knew it was Steve, and why he was calling. When had the two of them got so in sync with each other?

"Ho, just calling to say goodnight, huh?" The blonde listened some more. "Don't bite your head off? Well I wouldn't have to if you weren't such a worry wort."

Chin waved at Danny as he listened to him talk to his partner. "Tell him we'll be home by lunch and he can meet us at my house."

"Enough, babe," Danny finally shut up the ranting SEAL, when had Steve picked up his tendency to rant? "Chin says to meet us at his place for lunch, okay?"

"Alright, see you then, and stop worrying, we're fine. Nothing is going to happen. Goodnight." Danny handed the phone back to Chin. "That man is too overprotective. He claims he has a feeling that we should go home tonight as something bad will happen tomorrow."

"We can't go back tonight, anyway." Chin put the phone back into his pack. "It's dark out, and the Aihualama trail is not safe to walk in the dark."

"Yeah, well we aren't going back tonight anyway. I want to pass my test first." Danny smiled as he lay down.

"Final lesson, Danny, not a test." Chin also lay down. "But we should be careful tomorrow anyway, Steve has good intuition.

"Okay, we'll be careful, but as I told him before, he's the trouble magnet, not me."

 **TBC**

 **A/N:** Can you believe it's the end of chapter two and I haven't whumped Danny yet? Huh! It's coming, soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Let the Danny whump begin!

 **Chapter Three**

The next day dawned bright and clear. Both men cleaned up the camp and were soon ready to start the final lesson of teaching the Haole to track, Danny's own words, not Chin's.

Danny sat on a rock and watched as Chin walked into the forest. He gave him a fifteen-minute start then stood, stretched, and followed the native Hawaiian.

At first Chin's trail was easy for Danny to follow, then it started to get harder. But having had such a good teacher, he soon found his prey sitting on a fallen tree trunk next to a clearing, his pack on the ground beside him.

"Well done, Danny." Chin stood and hugged the blonde as he stepped up to him, setting down his own pack.

"You didn't make that last part easy there, coach. I had to really look to find which way you went back about ten minutes ago."

"I knew you could do it, brah." Chin walked out into the clearing. "I saw some banana poka across the clearing. What do you think? Shall we go pick some to have with our lunch?"

"Banana what?"

"Banana poka. It's a passion fruit, brah. You'll like it, trust me." Chin pointed to the trees draped in vines, some with pink flowers on them.

"Alright, let's get some, I'm sure Super SEAL will love them, even if I don't."

Both men set out across the clearing, Chin slightly ahead of Danny.

When Chin hesitated, as his foot caught on something in the thick underbrush, Danny only had a split second to react as something huge swung towards them at an alarmingly fast pace.

Pain exploded down the left side of Danny's body as he collided with Chin and pushed him down. Then they were both flying up in the air, but Danny passed out from the pain and knew no more.

He came around a few minutes later to Chin's worried voice.

"Come on Danny, wake the hell up." A hand rubbed up and down his right arm.

"Chin?" Was that weak voice his?

"Danny, thank god. Open your eyes, brah." Chin continued to rub his arm

Slowly, Danny managed to open his eyes, only to find he was looking at Chin's feet, tangled in some kind of netting.

"Don't move. Okay? I think that log did a number on your left side. I can tell your arm is broken, at the very least."

"Log?" Danny wasn't sure what Chin was talking about, until it all flashed back to him. "Oh, yeah, that was a log, huh? Thought it was a train that hit me."

"We need to get out of this net, Danny. I have a knife, but I can't get it the way I'm positioned. I didn't want to try and move around until you were awake, so that you can brace yourself."

"What?" Danny tried to move, but the pain was intense, so he stopped. "I can't move Chin."

"Stay still, Danny. I don't want you to move. Just hold onto the netting with your right hand so when I move you stay relatively still, okay?"

"No, I have a better idea." Danny's brain was finally getting in sync with the rest of him. "I have a knife strapped to my right leg. Present from our paranoid leader. Wanted to make sure I had a weapon of some kind with me."

"Okay, that's better." Danny felt Chin pull up his pant leg and release the knife from it sheath.

"I'm going to cut a small hole just big enough for me to fit through. I don't want you falling from this height, not with the injury you already have."

Danny looked down and realise they were quite high up. "You can't fall from this height either, babe."

"I'm going to lower myself down as far as the netting allows, then I'll drop the rest of the way. I'll be fine, don't worry."

"Sound like Super SEAL there, that's something he'd do in a heartbeat." He tried to look and see what Chin was doing, but he couldn't see past the legs pressed up against his head.

"Wrap your good arm around the net, I've made a hole by my head. I'm going to swing myself out and then drop. Holding on tight."

Any movement of the net hurt immensely, and by the time Chin had extricated himself and hung below it, Danny was panting. He opened his eyes though as soon as he felt the Hawaiian let go.

The landing looked awkward, and Chin didn't move right away. "Chin, you okay?"

"Yeah, just landed wrong and tweaked my ankle. It'll be fine. I'm going for the packs, then I'll see about getting you down."

"Take your time, babe. I'm quite happy where I am. Got a great view, lots of trees." Danny raised his eyes to admire the scenery. "Oh, and would you look at that?" The netting had been lazily turning around. "There's a grow op over there behind the trees."

"Yeah, I saw it earlier, explains the traps." Chin and managed to hobble over and retrieve both packs. He was back below Danny and already had the Sat. phone in his hand.

"Steve, we ran into some trouble. I set off a trap protecting a grow op, and Danny pushed me out of the way. We were both caught up in a net trap." There was a pause while Chin listened. "No, he's still up there, I need to lower him down he's already injured from the log hitting him." More silence while Chin listened. "Medivac would be a great idea. Have Kono track the signal from this phone. Oh, she's already doing that!" Silence again. "I'll call you back when I have him on the ground."

Chin hung up and put the phone away. "You hear all that, brah?"

"Yeah, he's freaking out, isn't he?"

"Just a little. Now let's get you down."

Danny could only watch as Chin moved to where the rope holding the netting was tied to a tree. It was obviously painful for his friend to put any weight on his left leg, but he pushed through and released the rope, slowly lowering the net to the ground.

He'd tried to stay with his right side down, but as he touched the ground he rolled slightly and his left arm hit. There was a blinding flash of light and then darkness.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thank you so much for the great reviews. I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this story.

 **Chapter Four**

He couldn't have been out for long because when he next became aware, Chin was just releasing him from the last of the netting.

"Tell me where it hurts? I can see your arm's broken, in more that one place by the looks of it. There's blood, too. I think the wound from last week has reopened. What else hurts?"

"My chest, think I may have some cracked ribs."

"Damn, Steve is going to kill me."

"No, he isn't. This is not your fault." Danny held up his right hand. "Give me the phone, I'll call him and calm him down."

Steve answered on the first ring. "Hey, partner. I'm fine, broken arm and cracked ribs." He could tell his partner was in a helicopter by the background noise. "Did you hitch a ride with medivac? What? You Neanderthal Animal. You couldn't wait an hour? Alright, see you soon." He hung up the phone and looked over at his friend.

"Medivac is busy so Steve commandeered Kamekona's helicopter. He and Kono are almost here." As if on cue the sound of a chopper approaching their location could be heard.

The clearing wasn't large enough for Kamekona to land, so Steve and Kono repelled down.

Steve was by his side in seconds. "Danny?" "Steve!" They both spoke at the same time.

"I thought I was the trouble magnet, buddy. Look at you. I knew something was going to happen. Didn't I say so yesterday?"

"I'm fine, Steve. You got any of the good meds in that huge pack you're carrying? I could do with some good stuff right about now." His arm hurt like hell, but his ribs also hurt if he moved.

"No, Danny. You know I'm not licenced to carry narcotics. I do have some extra strength Tylenol. That will have to do for now."

Steve removed his pack and pulled out a large first aid kit. Danny had known the kit was in there as the pack was from Steve's truck.

"Give Chin a couple too. He hurt his leg when he dropped out of the netting." Danny could see Kono tending to Chin.

"Yeah, sure." Steve sounded surly and upset with Chin, and Danny couldn't allow that. None of this was Chin's fault as far as he was concerned.

"That's enough with the attitude, babe. None of this is Chin's fault. There's a grow op over there, through the trees." Danny waved his good arm in the direction he'd seen the plants. "This clearing is a jungle, there's no way he could see that log trap before he triggered it."

Steve looked around the clearing, really looked. It was obvious to Danny that his partner had only just realised how overgrown the clearing was.

"I'm sorry, Chin." Steve apologised.

"It's okay, Steve, I understand."

Danny finally realised that Chin had been tense, expecting Steve to do something, like hit him. Kono too seemed to relax.

Steve handed Kono a bottle of water and two pills for Chin. Then he turned back and started to cut away Danny's t-shirt.

"What you doing, babe. I'm not that kind of guy."

"I need to check your chest and abdomen before I give you any pills, or water."

"Oh, okay then, check away, because I really want some of those pills."

Steve's hands felt strong and sure as they palpitated his abdomen, and pushed gently against his ribs. "Satisfied?" Danny couldn't resist baiting his partner. "Was it good for you too?"

"Yes. Your abdomen is fine, but I think that you may have a couple of cracked ribs, one may even be broken."

"It didn't hit me full on, babe. Just a glancing blow as I pushed Chin out of the way. Then we landed in that net and flew up into the sky. You'd have gotten a real kick out of it."

"Stop joking, Danny, none of this is funny." Steve lifted his head and helped him drink some water to wash down the two pills he had for him.

"Sure it's a little funny, after the fact, but you had to be here." He knew that was the wrong thing to say as soon as it left his mouth.

"Right! And why wasn't I here, Daniel? Because you decided I wasn't needed. But, oh, look. Here I am anyway."

Steve was now bandaging the old wound that had reopened.

Chin and Kono looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here right now, and Danny didn't blame them. He'd rather be somewhere else too.

"Babe, stop it. This is not your fault either." Danny placed his hand on Steve's arm. "I'm sorry you're upset, but I'm not sure that you being here would have made any difference. Go check out those traps, I don't think you'd have seen them in time either."

Steve looked steadily at him for awhile before he stood and walked over to where the log now hung. When he came back he was shaking his head.

"Those traps have been there for some time. The undergrowth has covered the triggers really well." Steve knelt down beside his partner. "You're right, I'd have probably missed them too."

"Huh, did you just say I was right about something?" Danny smiled as he looked into Steve's eyes.

"Don't let it go to your head, Danno. It doesn't happen very often."

Danny let the subject drop. The pain in his arm, and for that matter his chest, was ramping up despite the Tylenol, and he really wanted to get to a hospital.

"Can we get out of here now, please? Cause I'd really like some of the good stuff." He knew Kamekona had landed not too far away just from listening to the sounds around them.

"I need to splint your arm first, then we can leave. Kamekona's bringing a stretcher, and should be here soon." Steve produced a splint out of his pack, also handing a tensor bandage to Kono to wrap Chin's ankle.

"I'm not going to try and reset your arm, but just immobilise it." Steve gently took hold of Danny's arm. "This will hurt, buddy."

"Yeah, I figured that. Just do it, babe."

Danny could tell that Steve was being as gentle as possible, but by the time his arm was in the splint, and immobilised, he was sweating and panting. If that wasn't bad enough, when Steve tried to sit him up so he could wrap his ribs, there was a sharp pain in his side and everything faded to black.

 **TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** This story is told from Danny's POV, so there's a jump in time.

 **Chapter Five**

Awareness came back very slowly this time. He knew he was in the hospital by the sounds, and the smells, around him. But he had no idea how he'd gotten there, or how long he'd been unconscious. The last thing he remembered was Steve sitting him up, a sharp pain, then nothing.

"I know you're awake. Open your eyes, Danno, please!" Steve's voice was so close, and sounded so desperate, Danny immediately blinked his eyes open.

His partner was leaning over him, his face mere inches away, and his hand resting on Danny's right shoulder. How had he not felt that before? The worry in his friend's eyes stopped the rant that came to him about personal space.

"There you are. Don't ever do that to me again, Danno." Steve sat down with an exhausted sigh, running his hands down his face as if he was trying to wipe away the exhaustion.

"Okay, I won't, if you tell me what I did." His voice sound cracked and unused. He was also incredibly thirsty.

Steve immediately picked up a cup of ice chips and fed him a couple. The cool, soothing feeling was like heaven.

"When you sat up, one of your cracked ribs broke and punctured your lung. I shouldn't have moved you like that. I'm sorry."

Steve was looking at the cup in his hands, not his partner.

"Okay, but there's more isn't there?"

"You stopped breathing before I could get a tube in to relieve the pressure in your chest." Steve put the cup down and shifted forward again, placing his hand on Danny's forearm. "It's been the worst two days of my life."

"Oh!" Danny didn't know what to say. Couldn't say anything, he just imagined how he'd have felt if it had been Steve, that was enough.

"I thought I'd lost you, Danny." Now there were unshed tears in his partner's eyes, and Danny didn't want to be the cause of that.

"I'm so sorry, Steve. I never wanted to put you through something like that. But I'm glad you were there with me. You saved my life, didn't you?"

"No. The doctors here at Tripler saved your life. I just managed to keep you alive long enough to get here."

"Don't be so modest." Danny thought about what Steve had said. "I've been out for two days?"

"Yeah, the doctors wanted to keep you on the ventilator to give your lung a chance to start healing. With your claustrophobia, they thought it best if you stayed asleep for that."

"That's good." Danny was relieved he hadn't woken up to find himself with a tube down his throat, the thought alone made him feel a sense of panic.

"Thank you, Steve." Danny raised his right hand and Steve slid his hand down from where it was resting, into his raised hand.

"For what?"

"Whether you think so or not, you did save my life, and I'm grateful." Steve brought his other hand over and wrapped Danny's in both of his.

"I couldn't lose you, Danno. I've lost too many people."

"I know, babe."

They stayed the way they were for a few minutes. Danny's was assessing how he felt, and decided it wasn't too bad. His left arm ached, but was in a case from shoulder to wrist. His side also ached, but was manageable. He figured he was on the mend, and this somber mood his best friend was in needed to change.

"So, when can I go home?"

"What?" Steve stared at him, a look of disbelief on his face.

"I'm feeling good. Not at death's door anymore. So, when can I go home?"

"Seriously? You're seriously asking me that? You just woke up from being on a ventilator for two days, almost dying, and you want to go home?" One of Steve hands was waving around as he spoke. The other was still encased in Danny's, who refused to let it go.

"Too soon?"

"Yes, Danny. Too soon." Steve calmed down, but there was now a smile on his face. "You are something else, partner. You did that deliberately, didn't you?"

"Yep. You were way too far inside your head there, babe."

"Well, the doc said you'd be here five days to a week, once you woke up. So, get used to it, you're not leaving early."

Danny smiled at this partner. "Wouldn't dream of it, babe."

Before anymore could be said a nurse came in, followed by, Danny assumed, his doctor. He was prodded and poked, then told he was doing well, for how sick he'd been when he arrived. The doctor confirmed he'd be staying with them for five more days.

Once the medical personnel left, Danny was tired and sore. But the nurse had administered some pain relief, so he was rapidly feeling better. There was one question he needed to ask before sleep took him though.

"Steve, how's Chin?"

Steve sat back down beside the bed. "Chin's good. He broke a bone in his ankle and has a walking cast on. Kono's looking after him." Steve checked his watch. "In fact, they'll be by in another couple of hours."

"You're not still upset with him, are you?" Danny knew just how protective Steve could be and didn't want Chin to suffer because he'd been with him when he was hurt.

"No, Chin and I are fine." Steve rested his hand on Danny's arm. "Now will you go to sleep? Stop fighting the drugs, you need to rest."

"Have you talked to Grace? I want to see her, if Rachel will allow it."

"Yes, I've spoken to Grace. I went to see her, once you were stable. She's fine, and Rachel promised to bring her by when you were awake. Now, will you rest?"

"Okay, but wake me when Chin and Kono arrive."

Once Steve nodded his agreement to wake him, Danny closed his eyes and let the drugs take him under.

 **TBC**

 **A/N:** No one really thought I'd kill him, did they?


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Here it is, the last chapter, enjoy. **  
**

**Chapter Six**

"Danny, Danny wake up." His shoulder was being gently shaken, and Steve's quiet voice was speaking to him. He still felt really tired, but the insistent pressure on his shoulder meant he needed to open his eyes and at least acknowledge his partner.

"Yeah, I'm awake, babe." A cold sensation against his mouth had him opening not only his eyes, but his mouth too. The ice chip was heavenly, and eased his still sore throat.

"You asked me to wake you when Chin and Kono arrived, buddy." Steve was still hovering over him. "Well they're here, so wake up."

Danny realised that Kono was standing on the other side of his bed when she leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"Don't do that again, brah. If Steve hadn't gotten that tube in and given you a breath, I don't know what I'd have done. You're Ohana, and not allowed to die on us."

Her hand was on his head, fingers running through his hair. It felt so, good, but then his brain caught up with what she'd said.

"He what?" The look on his partner's face told him that Kono was telling the truth. "You kissed me?"

"No, I didn't kiss you. Not like that anyway." Steve ran a hand down his face, and Danny realised he was reliving what had happened. "You needed oxygen, Danny. I simply provided it."

"Oh, okay. Because you know that taking my clothes off and kissing me could be misconstrued, right babe?" He allowed a devilish smile to grace his lips as he spoke, which caused his partner to sigh in exasperation.

"You're not funny, Danny."

Kono and Chin were both trying hard to hide their laughter. "Well I think it's a little funny, don't you guys?" Danny asked them.

"He's right Steve, now everything's fine, it is a little bit funny." Kono agreed.

"How are you feeling, Danny." Chin placed his hand on Danny's arm. "You really had me worried there for a while, brah."

"I don't feel too bad, Chin. On the good stuff." He waved his hand at the IV pole next to the bed.

"I'm glad. But as Kono said, don't do that again."

The next few minutes passed in friendly conversation as the teammates caught up on what had been happening the last two days while Danny was on the ventilator. Apparently, the grow op had been seized by HPD, and the culprits apprehended. Then Grace arrived and Danny only had eyes for her. Chin and Kono said goodbye and left, but Steve stayed, sitting in the corner of the room.

When Grace left, Danny was beyond exhausted and had just settling down for a much-needed sleep when his partner walked back into the room.

"I thought you were taking Grace home, Steve?"

"Rachel was waiting down in the lobby. She'd been sitting there the whole time."

"Huh, really?" Danny was amazed.

"Yes, she was worried about you Danno. She does still care about you."

"Yeah? Well she has a funny way of showing it sometimes." Adjusting his position a little so he could see his partner where he'd taken up residence in the chair next to his bed. Danny smiled.

"You planning on staying here, babe?" Steve just gave him a look. "Thought so. You could go home now. I'm going to be fine."

"Not leaving, partner. I let you go off with Chin, and look what happened."

"Oh, come on! You are not still blaming Chin for this, are you?" Danny roused himself enough to rant at his partner.

"No."

"But you are blaming yourself for not being there?" It was all over his face. Danny didn't need to know his partner as well as he did to read that.

"Maybe."

"Well, stop." Danny reached out his right hand, and when Steve took it he squeezed. "I'm sorry you feel like it was your fault for not being there. But it was my choice to go without you, and you did rush in and save me. So, stop with the guilt, and when I'm better you and I can go camping."

Steve stared steadily at him for a long time. Just as he thought his Neanderthal partner wasn't going to say anything he did.

"I almost lost you, Danno. I knew something bad was going to happen, and it did." Steve's other hand now cover Danny's. "I need you in my life, you're not allowed to leave me." The like everyone else was not said, but Danny read it in his best friend's eyes.

"Not planning on leaving you, babe. I'm on the mend and will be around for a long time to keep you in line. Who else would take on such a job?" Exhaustion was winning out, and he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer. "Love you." He managed to say, but just before sleep took him he heard.

"Love you too, Danno."

 **The End**


End file.
